With Greek foreign minister Dimitris L. Avramopoulos at the UN to meet with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and speak to the media at the Security Council stakeout, FUNCA expected not only Cyprus and the so-called “name issue” of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to arise, but also the undersea disputes with Turkey.    But when Avramopoulos and his entourage appeared at the stakeout microphone, his entire statement was in Greek. Then he stepped forward to speak to reporters on the other read more [...]

On February 20, Bolivia's president Evo Morales was repeatedly cut off and urged to cede the first question in his quinoa press conference to an unelected representative of the UN Correspondents Association.   On February 21, UNCA's president came to claim that even at the UN's daily noon briefing, it is “tradition” that UNCA should always get the first question. The Free UN Coalition for Access questioned this, asking if Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky had called on read more [...]

While the Free UN Coalition for Access presses for more information for all journalists, the old UNCA Executive Committee appears to only want benefits for its 15 members (or even just the Permanent Five, by analogy). On February 7, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon gave lunch and quotes to 13 UNCA Executive Committee members. But other resident correspondents, even UNCA members, received nothing until after 6 pm, and even then only four paragraphs on three topics. FUNCA had challenged this, read more [...]

 On the morning of February 5 ten stories above the East River, issue was joined between three representatives of the Free UN Coalition for Access and the top brass of the UN Department of Public Information.   Certain FUNCA-won reforms were confirmed, though not yet in writing. These include that, going forward, all correspondents will have equal and unfettered access to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's 38th floor meetings. Passes to cover the General Assembly will no longer be distributed through read more [...]

On February 1, UN DPI official Stephane Dujarric provided "Answers" to some of the questions raised by the Free UN Coalition for Access at meeting with the chief of DPI. FUNCA immediately pointed out that many of the questions raised weren't answered, and some of the answers given weren't in Dujarric's letter. As simply two examples, FUNCA raised the exclusion of some for photo ops, including in favor of UNCA-run "pools." On January 17 FUNCA was told, no more UNCA pools, no more exclusion. But it read more [...]